News and reports from the Department of Justice.

News Release: LAS VEGAS - The Department of Justice has awarded $46,438,846 in grants to various Nevada entities to support victims’ services and public safety efforts, announced United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson.

News Release: MIAMI - Markenzy Lapointe was sworn in today as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida by Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.

News Release: Tampa, FL ― U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced today that the Middle District of Florida (MDFL) collected $168,330,189 related to criminal and civil matters in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022 (FY 2022). Of that amount, $103,089,821 represents total collections in criminal and civil actions. Included in this amount is $43,048,067 recovered in its locally handled cases; $17,769,638 in criminal cases and $25,278,429.11 in civil cases.

News Release: NEWARK, N.J. - A Morris County, New Jersey, man today admitted defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of more than $118,000 in disability benefits and sending an interstate text message threatening a federal agent with bodily injury, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

News Release: WASHINGTON - Dennis Gamarra, 53, of Woodbridge, VA, was sentenced today to one year of probation, to include six months of home confinement, for stealing government property from the Department of Commerce and the Library of Congress, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves.

News Release: According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Johnson and Nickas were engaged in a conspiracy to obtain and distribute controlled substances, heroin and fentanyl, for the time beginning January 2020 through March 2021, which resulted in a death. Both defendants were also found guilty of aiding and abetting each other in the Dec. 10, 2020 distribution of heroin and fentanyl, resulting in that death.

News Release: CONCORD - Robert Corson, 34, formerly of Portsmouth, New Hampshire was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for drug trafficking, United States Attorney Jane E. Young announced today.

News Release: PHOENIX, Ariz. - Marvin Tona, 48, of Bylas, Arizona, was sentenced on Dec. 19, 2022, by United States District Judge Steven P. Logan to 293 months in prison. Tona pleaded guilty to Second Degree Murder.

News Release: Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MATTHEW X. SMITH, 28, of Stonington, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Jeffery A. Meyer in New Haven to soliciting child pornography.

News Release: PITTSBURGH - After deliberating for three hours, a federal jury of five men and seven women found Jamal Knox guilty of Conspiracy to Distribute Forty Grams or More of Fentanyl, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.

News Release: A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Aurelien Michel, a French national residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with defrauding purchasers of “Mutant Ape Planet" NFTs, a type of digital asset, of more than $2.9 million in cryptocurrency. The defendant was arrested last night at John F. Kennedy International Airport. His initial appearance is scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge James R. Cho.

News Release: Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that FELIX ORTEGA-PAGAN, 41, of Waterbury, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine.

News Release: BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Anthony Wilson, 35, of Buffalo, NY, who was convicted of aggravated bank robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, was sentenced to serve 66 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

News Release: CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Alexis Ransom, 25, of Logan, was sentenced today to five years of federal probation and ordered today to pay $42,250.00 in restitution for a scheme to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of over $42,250.00 in COVID-19 relief loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

News Release: CAMDEN, N.J. - An Atlantic City, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 135 months in prison for possessing images of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.